Improvement in iron railroad-cars



H. MERRILL.

Railway Car.

Patented Mar. 31. 1863.

Inventor,

A A 2 9 3% a z 7, Q0 Wile, C 10M., a r Ww T Wm 5 gm a n a 3 n 0 MM 1 1a 3 Witnesses:

AM. PHOTO-THO. C0.N.fi (OSBORNE: PIDCESS) UNITED STATES HELEM MERRILL,

PATENT OFFICE...

IMPROVEMENT IN IRON RAlLROAD-CARS.

S ecification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,082, dated March 31, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HELEM MERRILL, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Construction of Iron Railroad- Oars and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accom panying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of a portion of a railroad-car constructed according to my invention, or m, Fig. 3, indicating the plane of section; Fig.2, a side view of the same; Fig. 3, a horizontal section of the same, taken in the line y y, Fig. 1; Fig. 4, a diminished inverted plan of the same; Fig. 5, an enlarged section of a portion of the same, taken in the line 2 a, Fig. 2; Fig. 6, an enlarged section of the same, taken in the line 2 z, Fig. 2.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to certain improvements in the construction of ironhailroad-ears, or those in which that metal is principally used.

The invention consists in a novel manner of securing in proper position the longitudinal sleepers of the car, and in the manner of securing the sheetmetal siding and wooden filling between the ribs of the car, and also the manner of securing the ribs of the car to the side sleepers thereof, and in the peculiar construc tion of the roof of the same, whereby it is believed that several advantages are obtained over the metallic cars as hitherto constructed.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents a series of longitudinal sleepers, which are placed parallelly with each other, and are of I-form in their transverse section, as shown in Fig. 6. These sleepers may be rolled in proper form or constructed in any other suitable way, and they are retained in proper position by transverse pieces B, which are composed of sheet metal of a suitable thickness, bent so as to form three sides of a square, as shown in Fig. 1; or they may be composed of four sides, so as to form a complete box. These transverse pieces B are fitted between the sleepers, and are held firmly in position by rods 0, which pass transversely through the sleepers and have nuts screwed on each end of them. The transverse pieces B are prevented from shifting by means of plates a, which are riveted to each side of the sleepers within the pieces B, and through which plates the rods 0 pass. (See Fig. 1.) Any suitable number of transverse pieces B may be used, according to the length of the sleepers. The sleepers support the flooring of the car, which may be of wood, and is designated by D in Fig. 1.

E represents vertical ribs, which are of wrought-iron and rolled or formed with three grooves, 11 b I), at each side, as shown clearly in Fig.3. The lower ends of these ribs have each a pin, a, passing transversely through them, and the pins are fitted in openings or holes 01 in cast-iron angle-shaped brackets F, which are firmly bolted to the outer sleeper A at each side of the car. These brackets are shown clearly in Fig. 5, and by referring to said figure it will be seen that the lower end of each rib is fitted between two anglepieces, e e, as two of said pieces are required to form a bracket or a support for each rib. The openings or holes 01 in the angle-pieces e of the brackets are of oblong form in a vertical direction, as shown clearly in Fig. 6, and in these openings or holes there are placed two pieces of india-rubber, f f, a pieceof rubber being above and a piece below the pin 0. (See Fig. 6.) These pieces of rubber form an elastic connection between the ribs E and the sleepers A, to which they are attached, and the body of the car is prevented from being injured by racking, torsional strain, 850.

G represents the sheet-metal siding of the car, the edges of which are fitted in the outer grooves, b, of the ribs E, and G is the wooden filling, the edges of which are fitted in the grooves b b of the ribs, the edges of the wooden-filling being grooved longitudinally to receive the projection a between the two grooves 11 11. (See Fig. 3.)

The vertical ribs E are at equal distances apart, and they are held in proper position and the sheet-metal. siding and wooden filling retained firmly between them by horizontal rods H, which pass through the ribs at each side of the car and at its ends, and have screw nuts 9 on their ends. Three or more rods H may pass through the ribs at each side of the car and at its ends. The ribs E at the corners of the car may be of angle form, rolled in that shape, or they may be made of two parts and connected together at their inner edges, (see. Fig. 3,) and a strip or plate of curved sheet metal, h, is inserted in the outer grooves, b, of these ribs, so as to form rounded corners. Instead of the plates It being curved, they may be flat, so as to form fiat corners, the space formed by the angle between the'two parts of the corner ribs admitting of sufficient room for the nuts g, of the rods H.

I represents the rafters or bars of the roof of the car. These bars are of wrought-iron, and rolled or otherwise formed with a groove, 1', in each side of them. The bars I are connected at their ends, in any proper manner, to the upper ends of the vertical ribs E, and between said bars I sheet'metal plates J are placed, the edges of said plates being fitted in the grooves i. The plates J are firmly held between the bars I by means of rods K, which extend the whole length of the car, and pass through all the bars I, the ends of the rods K having screwnuts j upon them, which are. screwed up firmly against the end bars I of the roof. The bars I are gently curved, so that the roof of the car will be slightly rounded, and at the ends of the car there are flat metal bars l, which rest on shoulders m at the upper parts of the ribs E at the ends of the car. There is one of these bars I at each end of the car, and they are secured to the same by short bolts n. The bars I may be readily detached at any time by removing the nuts of the bolts 01., and the nuts j of the rod K will be thereby exposed, so that they may be screwed up at any time or unscrewed, as occasion may require. Any number of rods K may be used.

Three, however, will probably be sufficient. The ends of the plates J are turned down soas to lap over the upper ends of the plates 0, which form the siding of the car, and thereby form a tight or close joint.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isv 1. The longitudinal sleepers A, in combination with the transverse pieces B, the latter being constructed of sheet metal bent so as to form a rectangular box, or three sides of the same, and secured between the sleepers in proper position by means of the plates a, and the rod 0, all arranged substantially as shown, to form a platform or bed for the support of the flooring and body of the car, as set forth.

2. Connecting the vertical ribs E to the sleepers A at the side of the car by means of the angle-brackets F, provided with oblong vertical openings 01, with pieces of india-rubber ff fitted therein, between which pins 0, which pass transversely through the ribs E, are fitted, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. The vertical ribs E, rolled or otherwise formed, with three longitudinal grooves, 12 I) b, on their sides, in combination with the rods H, sheet-metal siding G, and wooden filling Gr, all arranged to form the body of the car, substantially as shown and described.

4. The bars or rafters I, rolled or otherwise formed, with a groove, 11, at each side, in combination with the rods K and plates J, all arranged substantially as shown, to form the roof of the car.

5. The angle or corner ribs E, formed in one piece or of two pieces connected together at their inner ends at or about at right angles to eachother, in connection with the plates h, inserted in the grooves b of said ribs, to form ghe rounded or fiat corners of the car, as speci- 6. The bars Z, at the ends of the cars, fitted on the back parts of the upper ends of the ribs E, and secured in position by the bolts at, when said bars, thus arranged, are used in connection with the roofing of the car, composed of the bars I and plates J, as set forth.

HELENI MERRILL. Witnesses J. W. GooMBs, G. W. REED. 

